Capstone Challenges 2023-2024

Stakeholder: UNFCCC

The Water-Energy-food nexus has been hailed as a novel approach that allows the consideration of synergies and trade revolving around the complex and interlinked uses of water, energy and food as well as facilitating co-benefits. In the face of climate change, this project seeks to explore the prospects of climate change adaptation through this nexus approach within Europe. We invite interested students to think about the future of Europe, existing policies and initiatives as well as advancements in technology and relate this to climate change adaptation from the water-energy-food nexus viewpoint. This project will complement a similar project in Africa and will collectively contribute to the work of the Technology Executive Committee – a constituted body within the UN Climate Change Secretariat.

Stakeholder: Trinity College Dublin

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 brought a new approach to gender-sensitive peacebuilding. It affirmed that gender-sensitive peacebuilding brings out a newer perspective and increases the chance of sustainability in peace processes by 23%. Gender-sensitive peacebuilding counterbalances peace processes and policies by focusing on gender-based factors such as masculinity militarization, gender-based violence and women’s approach to peacebuilding. In this challenge, we will explore innovative ways of understanding this peacebuilding approach. This challenge will contribute towards UN sustainability goal 5 by becoming a platform through which gender inequality in peace processes can be questioned. There will be a balance of theoretical and practical experience in this challenge. The theoretical part of this challenge will introduce students to the importance of gender-sensitive peacebuilding. And practical learning will take place through virtually collaborating with external stakeholders like civil society organizations, and think tanks in various conflicts. Students will be encouraged to use qualitative methods like semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis of policy briefs which will contribute towards UN sustainability goal 16 by putting forth practical examples of making the peace processes more sustainable.

Stakeholder: University of Pretoria 

The challenge for CHARM-EU students will be to analyse and provide solutions through both Western and African value and indigenous knowledge systems, to challenges at this human-livestock-wildlife ecosystem interface. This should be done in close consultation and in partnership with the local community and should be broad-based, and participatory. This implies that resources should meet needs in an equitable and sustainable manner, addressing environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability. These lessons are also transferable to other parts of society and will be communicable for the greater good through the production of scientific-, policy-, business-, or communication-oriented products by student teams. This challenge proposes 3 months mobility to The Hans Hoheisen Wildlife Research Station in South Africa for which an Erasmus funding is available to cover air travel (to and back from South Africa), on site accommodation and living expenses. The Hans Hoheisen Wildlife Research Station (HHWRS) is based in a rural setting in the Kruger National Park and functions as a field-based research facility where multidisciplinary approaches to address complex challenges and develop sustainable solutions for the problems associated with human-livestock-wildlife ecosystem interface through an existing partnership with the Mnisi Community Programme of the University of Pretoria. Requirement: even number of men and even number of women (due to shared accommodation).

Stakeholder: UNCCD

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is promoting financing for gender equality by liaising between funding sources and parties through technical support, but more efforts are needed in evidence-based advocacy and technical support. Gender mainstreaming in projects related to desertification, land degradation, and drought (DLDD) is a priority for countries to achieve their Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets and contribute to the SDGs. UNCCD proposes to the CHARM-EU students to pick up the challenge by developing a framework that focuses on green/climate financing for gender equality. The framework should include opportunities for funding for women-led projects on DLDD issues, policy analysis, challenges and recommendations, tools/guidance for policy and programming for gender, analysis of funds allocation, and successful cases.

Stakeholder: Andromède océanologie

Andromède océanologie, a French company specialized in the study, development and restoration of the marine environment, has 12 employees. Its activities are shared between seabed cartography, scientific expeditions, method development, ecological monitoring, restoration projects, quantification of human activities... The company wishes to increase its efforts to reduce its environmental footprint. It therefore asks the group of students for a diagnosis, proposals for concrete actions (action sheets) and communication materials (internal use + external use during commercial proposals).

Stakeholder: Institute for European Environmental Policy

International trade poses both opportunities and challenges to the EU's ambitions to reduce GHG emissions by at least 55% by 2030, including for the agri-food sector which is notoriously resistant to climate efforts. The reduction of trade barriers for example, can facilitate the expansion of markets and spur economic growth, increasing the risk for the persistence of high levels of emissions. Economic integration, however, also presents opportunities such as the development and/or dissemination of climate-mitigating technologies and services for sustainable agri-food practices or incentivise changes in standards and practices among less climate friendly legal frameworks, thus scaling up efforts to reduce GHG emissions, while supporting access to essential resources for food security globally. With this project, we aim to analyse the current trends and propose realistic trade policy options that could support lowering the GHG emissions associated with the agri-food sector in the EU and beyond.

Stakeholder: Utrecht University

Should the destruction of ecosystems be treated as an international crime? An increasing movement of activists, researchers, lawyers and political leaders calls for ‘Ecocide’ to be added as a fifth core crime in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), next to the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. This challenge will assess to what extent including Ecocide in international criminal law could contribute to preventing severe ecological damage, and what challenges remain in its conceptualization. How do we determine who is responsible and how do we hold them accountable? How do we acknowledge and represent non-human perspectives? How could Indigenous perspectives be strengthened in this debate? And how do we, or should we, balance ecological and socio-economic considerations? How do we make visible and understandable to a broader public what ecocide is? What role can the cultural arena play and how can artists, writers, and filmmakers raise public awareness about ecocide? Students will collaborate with the interdisciplinary research project Conceptualizing Ecocide at Utrecht University and relevant stakeholders such as the foundation Stop Ecocide to address this challenge. The challenge benefits from reflections from various perspectives including its legal, ecological, political, sociocultural, criminological, philosophical, and historical dimensions. A goal and concrete output of this challenge is to set up a mock trial at Utrecht University in collaboration with the project team and relevant stakeholders. During this mock trial (a simulation of a real trial, a performance carried out “as if” ecocide had been criminalized), the goal is to address and reflect on the challenges described above by using a realistic example of ecocide. Conceptualizing ecocide by means of inter- and transdisciplinary research contributes to various SDGs, including 15 Life on Land, 13 Climate Action and 16 Peace, Justice and strong institutions.

Stakeholder: Baix Llobregat Agrarian Park / Consorci del Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat

The Baix Llobregat Agrarian Park (PABLL) is a peri-urban faming area located next to Barcelona with 3.473 ha and around 300 farmers that produce local and quality fresh fruit and vegetables. Challenge: in front of increasing prices of inputs and the need to reduce the ecological footprint of farms in line with EU goals, farmers require to better manage inputs and outputs of agriculture processes. To face this challenge, research is needed to improve circular economy of farming in this agricultural park, increasing sustainability with efficiency of inputs (energy, soil, water) and reduction and reuse of waste (plastics, phytosanitary containers, food waste). Governance is crucial to make progress in this field, so the research requires to deep into different stakeholders involved on boosting sustainable circular economy of farming system in PABLL.

Stakeholder: WWF

As the urgency to achieve zero emissions increases, multiple initiatives are emerging to boost climate leadership among different sectors. However, with most of them focusing only on pledges, the accountability and measurement of the real impacts of climate objectives and actions turns into a big challenge. Pledges are failing to ignite real transformations, and, in some cases, they could derive in greenwashing. Recent studies show that greenwashing has never been stronger, highlighting the shortcomings in the climate pledges of leading companies. This highlights the necessity of tracking the real contribution of non-state actors to recognize credible climate actions that are leading to 1.5° scenarios. Taking Facebook and Spotify as inspiration, we aim to collectively build a system that can host information around 500 climate actions and build a community of climate leaders from cities, organizations, and companies around the world to help catalogue, track, and measure climate action. The goal of this Capstone Project is to validate and refine this idea together with a wide network of global stakeholders. You will i) map the ecosystem and identify key actors; ii) suggest functionality, operative, and visual features for the platform based on stakeholder needs and feedback; iii) develop a strategy to ensure stakeholder participation in the platform; and lastly iv) provide recommendations to ensure the economic viability of such initiative. The project will be realized in the context of the Alliances for Climate Action, a WWF-led initiative dedicated to drive ambitious climate action, increase public support, and engage national governments to decarbonize faster. The alliances include a diversity of voices representing over 6000 climate leaders from nearly every sector of society across 10 countries, located mostly in the Global South.

Stakeholder: Enverdim Barcelona

Enverdim Barcelona is the ecological dream of an individual who believes in the power of every single person to change the world. The dream aims at greening our cities and towns to reverse the climate crisis. As a project, it stands on three pillars, two of which have been already in motion since 2019: 1.Citizen engagement; 2. Primary and Secondary School action. Both of them have been growing since then. Now, here goes the 3rd pillar and challenge: would you be able to create from scratch a socially responsible and economically sustainable company which: a. transforms seeds into plants; b. shares the green it creates; c. gives employment to harder employable people or at risk of social exclusion? For instance, a system similar to a plant nursery. Selling the plants and other products (including SCR-related training) to companies. For further info (in Catalan), please visit www.enverdimbarcelona.cat; TW: @enverdim; IG: @enverdimbarcelona. Don’t hesitate to contact me directly at hola@enverdimbarcelona.cat for more details in English.

Stakeholder: International groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC)

24% of the total groundwater body area in EU was reported to be of poor chemical status and 9% to be of poor quantitative status. Failure to achieve a good qualitative status and a good chemical status are largely attributed to diffuse pollution from agriculture and water abstraction for irrigation. The case of Spain is illustrative. It is a major food producer in Europe, whose groundwater resources are under stress. Some aquifers are depleted due to irrigation, while others are heavily contaminated due to the use of fertilizers. Since a significant part of food produced in Spain is exported, responsibilities for these groundwater issues are shared. The challenge is to determine to what extent food production in Spain is sustainable with respect to groundwater resources. The challenge could be structured in 4 components, which could be addressed through one or several case studies:

• Component 1: What is the current status of groundwater resources in Spain? How does the status of groundwater resources correlate with food production? What are the consequences of the bad status of groundwater resources on the people and the ecosystems?
• Component 2: Who benefits from the food production in Spain? – producers How much profit does food production create and who shares these profits? What is the structure of the food production sector in Spain?
• Component 3: Who benefits from food production in Spain? – consumers Where is the food produced in Spain consumed? What products are exported, to which countries, and in what quantity? What is the trend of exports over the last decades?
• Component 4: How can food production be made sustainable? What measures have been implemented? Is it possible to achieve a good status of groundwater resources without reducing food production? Only 1 of 3 IGRAC challenges can be executed

Stakeholder: Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)

In response to the “Black lives matter” movement, global inequities in the response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and growing voices calling to decolonize global health there have been different initiatives and reports which have highlighted the structural racism embedded in humanitarian development, international aid, and global health agencies. As Abimbola S. et al remark, those organizations “are opening doors for uncomfortable but important conversations” as they are revealing “serious asymmetries of power and privilege that permeate all aspects of global health”. One of those asymmetries is the impact of racism. In fact, “a growing body of work underscores the need to consider multiple dimensions of race - the social construction of race as a function of appearance, societal interactions, institutional dynamics, stereotypes, and social norms”. Two of the main institutions working for global health, Liverpool school of tropical medicine (LSTM) and London school of tropical medicine & hygiene (LSHTM), have developed two reports addressing this issue. Both reviews have revealed “uncovered instances of racism and inequalities which cannot be attributed to a select few individuals, but rather point to deeper, more structural issues”. This can be explained because “cultural systems, such as cultural racism, undergird the social conditions that shape racial inequities in health, including social and health policy decision making, governance, practice, and public reception”. In summary, the Global health research community is becoming aware of those voices asking to decolonize global health, a process which is only just beginning but which is unavoidable. In this project we aim to review the current situation by investigating the available literature (scientific publications, opinion pieces, commentaries) explore possible trends of north-south and south-south scientific collaborations, and produce a best practice set of recommendations for such collaborations.

Stakeholder: Samudra.world

Street food markets are a vibrant part of the community, but they have a sizeable waste footprint - food waste, single use cutlery, cups and food boxes. The challenge is to reduce the climate and environmental impact of a local street food market by mapping out the different waste streams, identifying the relevant stakeholders and determining how the system for managing market waste can be improved and/or how the waste streams can be changed. With the growing awareness of climate and environmental impact of waste, the changes are already happening. For example, many stalls are offering food in eco-boxes, "green" boxes, "good for the planet" boxes, recyclable boxes or boxes made from recycled material. But are the recyclable food boxes actually being recycled, and are the compostable cutlery sets actually being composted? As part of the challenge, the students will explore both upstream (for example, switching to a different type of cutlery) and downstream (for example, introducing a new type of bins or identifying a more suitable facility for processing the waste) opportunities to reduce the climate and environmental impact of market waste. Amongst other things, the students will learn about the differences between a waste management system as it is officially described on paper and as it works in practice, and about the trade-offs between solutions favouring either climate or environment. The first part of the challenge is to identify what will be a suitable output for this project. Co-designing this part of the project together with the students will ensure that they can develop the skills they want to have while also tackling the challenge in an impactful way. This project requires a transdisciplinary team, with at least one team member proficient in the local language.